Yes, Dion made mistakes but he is a true Canadian loyalist and has the best interests of the country at heart.Now, if we can get Paul Martin on side again, to reassure the Bay Street boys and make sure the TSX doesn't tank...

The TSX tanking was another talking point. It was up on Friday after the Coalition talk started on Thursday. They could just as well be a case of the market liking the idea of the replacement of a government that doesn't believe in stimulus.

As for Dion, this is a tough analogy to saddle the man with but here goes.I believe Dion is the man Canada needs right now. Churchill was tossed aside by the electorate before and after the war.

A joint news conference, wherein Rae eloquently makes the case, Dion preaches unity, and it's full speed ahead. That's the key, a front of party unity, Layton is already privy, so it can fly, stragglers aside.

No doubt it is hard to keep up. Either way, Dion or Ignatieff, so long as Harper is gone. I like the idea of Dion - since I think he has what it takes to get people to work together, but, at the same time, I could see how Ignatieff could work well in the long run.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the minutes, days, and weeks ahead.

"Well that’s tidy. Leadership races are such a bore. So instead of a Prime Minister who had just lost an election, we’d get a PM who has never been elected — not as PM, not as party leader, not as anything until two years ago."-Andrew Coyne

There it is Liberals, hopefully Ivison is wrong or else you just handed Harper a large hammer.

I don't trust Ivison either. Something doesn't feel right about that article. And it's significant that none of the other media outlets have picked it up - ie: the Globe and Mail, The CBC, or the Toronto Star.

I think James Curran's link just proved my point. Clearly it's not yet resolved. I'd believe the Canadian Press to the National Post any day (and we should, because doesn't the Canadian Press represent all news agencies?)

There is a general understanding that even if Dion stays on, he will be gone by May. I expect the coalition to be relatively stable until then (two and a half years), even though the three leadership candidates will not be in the coalition early on.

Still, I don't understand this sniping, even among bloggers. The Grits end up as big winners (NDP only got six Cabinet posts along with the Deputy PM and the Finance portfolios). This is a major win for a party with only 70-odd seats. Unless Layton did this, knowing that the Grits would fall over themselves and he ends up being the biggest winner.

"He said there was no talk of which of the three candidates would eventually become prime minister, contrary to some reports.

"There was no discussion of that, that was not at all decided and that was not asked for," Rae told Canada AM.

"Nobody was being asked to do that, so like a lot of things you read in the newspaper that happens to be untrue... what was really discussed was how do we create the unity that's needed, how do we create the discipline that's necessary to ensure we succeed."